1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to egg containers, particularly containers for use in refrigerators or other cooled spaces.
2. Description of Related Art
Many containers for eggs have been proposed, including the ubiquitous foam-based and paperboard egg cartons, plastic egg holders in refrigerator units, and a variety of rigid egg trays. Examples include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,188,044, “Egg Tray,” issued to R. N. Hickman, Jan. 23, 1940; U.S. Pat. No. 2,438,443, “Egg Tray for Refrigerators,” issued to A. C. Jermyn Mar. 23, 1948; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,034, “Egg Container,” issued to A. Arnabili, Apr. 7, 1992, and D210,613, issued Aug. 14, 1967 to R. G. Moore.
In spite of the many products offered, there remains an unmet need for storage containers that can make efficient use of space, particularly in refrigerators where users frequently struggle to find adequate space to store and organize various items. An important insight regarding space utilization in a refrigerator is that user needs relative to storage space allocation among different product categories vary radically between users, and can vary from week to week for a given user. A problem with many egg cartons, built-in egg containers in refrigerators or other containers such as egg trays is that they occupy a fixed volume of space in the refrigerator (excluding the volume of the eggs themselves for uncovered containers), regardless of how many eggs the user wishes to store, thus frequently occupying more space than needed and leaving valuable space unavailable for other goods.
In the past, those skilled in the art have naturally focused on problems such as how to make egg trays more economical, more attractive, etc., generally designing durable or disposable containers with fixed dimensions. It appears that insights about the varying needs of consumers relative to egg storage have not been sufficiently appreciated, and thus those skilled in the art may not have seriously considered what we believe to be novel problem statement: how to provide an egg container that can be readily adjusted such that its occupied volume and/or occupied footprint (plan view surface area) in a refrigerator or elsewhere can vary depending on the number of eggs a user wishes to store. The framing of this new problem statement, based on insights about unmet consumer needs and the abandonment of previously accepted assumptions and constraints, is at the heart of at least some embodiments of the present invention, hereafter described. In other words, in one sense, in considering the merits of the invention hereafter described relative to the prior art, it should be understood that at least some aspects of the present invention represent more than merely finding solutions to the novel problem statements addressed here. Indeed, the recognition and discovery of the unmet need of variable volume or variable footprint egg containers should be understood as a significant inventive contribution associated with other aspects of the invention as claimed herein. The insight behind the mechanical invention can also be considered in terms of recognizing a previously unappreciated opportunity for user customization of egg storage space, such that the space occupied can readily be customized to provide a configuration that meets the varying needs of a user. With these insights now highlighted, the significance of the invention hereafter described may be better understood.